End of Summer Vanilla Plum Cake
September is my favorite month.
It's the best time to go to the beach, when the kids goes back to school and the crowds thin out.
The weather is still nice and warm enough to enjoy.
Sunsets are the best in September as is the produce.
It's like everything is happening all at once. As if all the fruits and vegetables know, this is it folks....the last hoorah.
The late tomato varieties are still going.....eggplant, peppers, figs and plums all coming in!
I found some beautiful local red plums and they were the best plums I have ever eaten (from Chester, NJ)....gorgeous, juicy, sweet and ripe.
I baked a cake with 3 different varieties of plums.....Stanley (prune plums), red plums and good old purple plums.
This is a simple cake, also called a kuchen in German.
This is so good with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. I baked 3 of them already, hoping summer will never end.
Vanilla Plum Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
about 7 plums (any variety), pitted and quartered
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla together to make a thick batter.....add in the dry ingredients and combine.
Add in the milk last. Your batter will be rich and pale yellow.
Pour into a greased (I line my pan with parchment paper on the bottom) 9" springform pan (NOT 8", NOT 10", a NINE INCH size).
Slice the plums however you like, you can quarter them or halve them, depending on the size. Decorate the top with the plums and sprinkle the 2 tbsp of remaining sugar on top.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 60-70 minutes. The cake will take that long to bake, trust me.
Let rest in the pan 30 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and unmold.
Delicious.
You had better move fast and get some plums, or before you know it, you will start seeing apples!!!!
Comments
Costo had 4lb clamshells of Italian plums for many years. Then poof! Maybe no one realized how good they could be! Now I’ll have to try your version with mixed plums...
I like this cake better than Marian Burro's cake!!! (shhhhh).
I used 3 types of plums.....prune/stanley/Italian plums are everywhere here now. Only good for baking.
xo
You are obviously such a prolific baker. Do you get through the cakes pretty promptly in your family, or do you ever freeze them?
I love reading your blog. You obviously write exactly as you speak. It's as if your readers are a fly on the wall, while you're having a chat with a freind! It's great. And often very funny!
Thanks.
Deborah
I freeze most of my cakes, since I bake so many.....we do eat a lot of cake!
Thank you for being such a loyal reader.
xo Stacey